Pokemon: Demonstone Chapter 1
by Pokemon Ranger J
Summary: The year is 2022 in the Pokemon world. James, Sabrina and David try to stop the Rockets from making Demonstones, stones that evolve pokemon into evil pokemon. R for Adult Situations, Language, Violence.
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon: DemonStone  
Dawn  
  
  
"Sabrina, do we have any Mist Stones?" I asked my fiancé, the psychic gym leader.   
"I don't think so, we can pick some up at the nearest pokemart, though."  
"Where is it, is SuperPokemart Saffron done, it's been a while since we came through."  
"I think so, we can go see, if you want," she responded, flicking her black hair over her shoulder. She was beautiful. I shouldn't be thinking like this around heavy machinery, or I'll end up missing an arm or something. She was bent over the Fustone Device, one of Professor Oak's newest discoveries. It fused pokemon stones together to create new elemental stones, and pokemon. Now she, my partner, David, and I were trying to fuse all of the known stones to make a super stone that heightened pokemon powers. Sabrina fitted the fire stone into a slot in the machine's tray. I dropped a water stone in. She handed me the thunder stone, and I dropped it into its place.  
"Let's see, we need a leaf, moon, psy, ghost, and mist stone to completes the experiment," she said.  
"David says he'll get the leaf stone, he knows where to get one for just $10," I told her, but he'll be a couple of hours, he has to fly on his Articuno," I told her.  
"Bummer, for him at least. It'll just give us more time to prepare for the wedding," she said. Our wedding was the next week at the Saffron Psychic Temple. Her parents had first thought the idea of their little girl getting married to a secret agent that traveled through time was absurd. Only after heavy discussion with her had they okayed her choice. Goddish knew I wanted this to work out. I had no parents I could remember, and had been raised by wild Alakazams. My poke-parents had been better than humans, I think, catching me pokemon and amusing me with their powerful psychic stunts. They had brought me my first pokemon, an odd pikachu who had an affinity for grass stones. After I gave it a thunder stone to evolve into Raichu it kept evolving into Pikabud, a new and powerful pokemon. That's how I started out on the path I had chosen, the path to becoming the greatest psychic trainer on Earth, and beyond. The path that lead through Indigo Plateau, Pokemon league, The Invitational Tournament, to David, Brock, Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Sabrina.   
But now I had better things to think about, like my wedding, my fiancé, and of course, my work. We teleported to the Pokemart and picked up all the stones, except the mist stone, which required going to the top story and negotiating a price with a short, round, balding, pungent man named Victor.  
"Tree hunded!"  
"I am not going to give you three hundred dollars for that mist stone. I'll give you one hundred and fifty, no more."  
"Hundred-fifty, eh? Deal!" I paid the man and took my mist stone, hurrying out of the room to escape the horrible odor. Sabrina met me in the corridor, where she had waited, unable to bear the nasty smell. We walked back to the hotel, checking off the stones we had collected. David wouldn't be back for four hours, and we could go out to dinner.  
"Well Sab, what do you want, Italian, French, Room Service, Arabic?"  
"Arabic sounds exotic... Room service gets old after a while. Let's go with Arabic."  
"Fine by me," I said. I liked Arabic, and I had spent some time in Arabia, learning the language and eating the food. It always felt like home when I heard Arabic on TV, and to take my fiancé out to eat my favorite foods brought back memories from years before.   
  
"Syrian House of Wonder. Sounds interesting," Sabrina said as she looked at the sign of the restaurant in downtown Saffron. It was located on a back alley in a not quite desirable part of town. But it was all right. The restaurant had been built years before and was rated five stars before everyone forgot about it. We walked in the door. It was dark inside, lit only by candles. We were met by a waiter who showed us to a romantic, dark, comfortable booth, lit by a lantern. We sat down, next to each other. The waiter appeared out of the gloom and handed us menus. Sabrina scanned it, but it was written in Arabic, a language she couldn't read. I read the menu to her, explaining the dishes as I went along.  
"Then I guess I'll have a shawarma," She said. They were kind of fast food, but I wasn't going to argue. I couldn't remember what the word sheep tongue looked like, and I didn't wan to risk it. I could read shawarma.  
"Me too." I had always liked shawarmas, and was starving. We ate our meal, talking about the day, the experiment, and the ever-approaching wedding. Sabrina was starting to say something about the honeymoon arrangements when my pokedex beeped. Ash's face flashed onto the screen, blinking once before focusing.  
"J, Sabrina, sorry to interrupt your meal, but we have some top priority business to discuss. Report Immediately," Ash instructed us. We stood, and I left a wad of cash on the table, and teleported to Indigo Plateau. We walked into Ash's boardroom. Ash sat at his desk, toying with a pokeball. Pikachu sat on his shoulder, making little grunts of satisfaction as it ate a sliced apple. The door opened, revealing Misty, Brock, and Joy. Slate followed them into the room, accompanied by a boy just a bit younger than I was, in a dark coat.  
"James, Sabrina, meet Ranger K, a specialist from the mainland pokemon labs. He will be working with you on this assignment."  
"Which would be?" David Whitley, the famous Ranger D, who had captured Mewtwo, said, walking in the door.   
"David, glad you could make it. This is Ranger K, he'll be..."  
"You said it once, what's the assignment?"  
"Well, to get to the point, this may be the most dangerous assignment you have ever had. Team Rocket has built an illegal pokemon factory on the mainland. You'll be accompanied by Ranger K to the factory, where you will be working undercover to steal Rocket technology and shut them down. We can't have the Rockets back in function, with their growing power, that could mean the end of pokemon, as we know it. First off, you'll stay in Azure City for a night, and attend a party that high-ranking Rockets may be attending. You will say you are aspiring trainers looking for a good job, and want to join the Rockets. With their current organizational problems they should buy it. The dance is tomorrow though, and you will set off tonight to Azure City. Good luck Rangers! You're gonna need it!"  
"Pikapika!" Pikachu agreed. We walked out to the League Helipad, where a copter was waiting. K, whose full name was Keith, helped us load the pre-packed garments Pokemon League Administration had gathered for us. Sabrina grabbed the handle and I helped her in. Keith jumped in and I hovered into the chopper. The pilot took off, making a beeline for the mainland. We strapped ourselves in and chatted on the way.  
"So, how long have you worked for the League, Keith?" Sabrina asked.  
"Two years now," he replied.  
"What type of pokemon do you train?" I asked, jumping subjects, one of my flaws.   
"Fighting, mostly, few other types, like a mix," he said, his British accent echoing over the whir of the blades. I looked over at Sabrina, her hair whipping around in the wind. We all retreated to the back of the copter, which was very large, with two rotors. It had several rooms in the back. Keith took one saying, "the ride is about ten hours, get some sleep. You'll want it for the party tomorrow. G'night!" And with that he closed the door. Sabrina and I took the next door, which opened into a storage room.   
"Well, I guess we won't be sleeping here, let's try the next one."  
"Yeah," I told her, "I don't think the shelf would be all that comfortable." We walked past two more doors, a bathroom and another storage area. Then we came upon a second bedroom, very cramped, but the only other bedroom on the chopper. Sabrina and I squeezed through the door, face to face and tossed our bags on to the bed. Finally, alone time! Damn demanding job! I shut the door and kissed Sabrina. We fell back onto the bed, kissing, embracing. I moved my hands up her back, to the buttons on her shirt, running straight down behind her head... and David opened the door. Then I noticed his bag on the bed.  
"Oh shit, Sab," I said, buttoning her shirt back up, "we're in his room." She straightened her hair and stood up. I got up and Sabrina and I walked out into the hall. David had an uncanny ability to show up at the wrong times. He always walked in on us. Oh well, he was probably asleep in his room now.   
"He's probably asleep in his room now, anyway," she said, pulling me into the storage closet. We kissed again. I kicked the door lock and lowered myself and my fiancé to the floor, she, being the quick thinker, mentally unzipped the bag of clothes and was able to create a semi-bed with them. I lowered her onto the bed, and carefully unclasped her jacket. She let me slip it off her. I brought a leg up and kicked the light switch. The darkness surrounded us.  
  
I woke up on the floor in the closet, I checked my watch. The flight would be landing soon in Azure City. Sabrina stirred next to me. She was still asleep, her head resting on my chest. She smiled at whatever she was dreaming of. I had thought about getting up, but didn't want to disturb her. I stroked her long black hair. Pikachu invited itself out of its pokeball, curling up on Sabrina. She opened her eyes, and sat up.  
"You know, Sab, we should probably get ready to unload," I said, looking at the cluttered bed we'd made with clothes.  
"Or we could go back to bed," she said with an evil glint in her eye.  
"Sab, we'll be at the Pokemon Center tonight, and besides, David would probably walk in on us again," I replied.  
"I guess I can wait until tonight. Pokemon Centers are better than the floor of a corporate choppers."  
"You're right there," I said, rubbing my back. We stood up and packed our things. David opened the door, again.  
"I figured you two would be here," he said, "c'mon we're landing."  
  
  
Keith met us out in the main seating area.  
"Did you have a good flight?" he asked.  
"Yeah, yeah, it was great," I said, looking over at Sabrina. She smiled.   
"Me too," David said. Then his cellphone beeped. He put it on speaker mode and answered it. He usually did that so if anything questionable was said, Sabrina and I could back him up on it. It was his wife, Jennifer Oak, head of Pokemon League.  
"I'll be seeing you in Azure City tonight, honey. Hey, you don't have this on speaker mode again, do you?"  
"Well, actually... How are you getting to Azure?"  
"Corporate luxury jet, I'd have invited you, but..."  
"Well, I'll see you in Azure tonight, I reserved us the best room at Ritz Azure. Bye, gotta go," she hung up.  
"Well gang, looks like I got the best room in town," David said, looking superior.  
"Well, Sab, he gets the Ritz, and we get PokeCenter Azure," I said, looking at my fiancé.   
"Oh well, we'll just have to make do," she said.  
"Yeah, I'm sure we can manage," I said.  
  
When we landed Jennifer met us at the airport. She had a car ready to take us into town. It was around ten thirty at night. We went directly to the hotel. Actually they went directly to the hotel, we were dropped off outside the pokemon center. We checked with Joy and got a room. Joy kept our pokemon to revitalize them.  
"Strange pokemon, I've never seen them before."  
"We're from the island," I told the nurse. She nodded knowingly, "oh, I thought so."  
  
Sabrina and I walked down to the room, number 94, Gengar's ID no. Irony was wonderful. Ha ha. We walked in and put our bags down on the table.   
"I'm going to take a shower," Sabrina said. I sat and watched a documentary about pokemon training. After ten minutes she called from the bathroom, "Can you get me a towel from the closet?"  
"Yeah, just a sec," I said, fetching the towel. I opened the bathroom door, and went in. I could see her silhouette behind the frosted glass of the Jacuzzi tub. We had the best room there, reserved for Gym Leaders.   
"What do you need this for, there are already towels in here?" I said. Then she psychically pulled me into the Jacuzzi with her. I teleported my clothes off before the good suit could get wet. I righted myself and landed sitting.  
"Well, isn't this romantic," I said, noticing the glint in her eyes again.  
"Yeah, and David isn't here to walk in on us," she said.  
"Oh, and what does that mean," I asked, knowing exactly what it meant.  
"This," she said, kissing me.   
  
When we woke up in the morning the sun was shining through the window. Somehow it had gotten open, and we had gotten to the bed. I didn't remember that! I sure as hell remembered the hotub, though. I got up and put my clothes on. Sabrina stood up. I tapped her on the shoulder, holding her clothes out to her.  
"You should probably be wearing something when we go to breakfast," I told her.  
"Oh, yeah," she said jokingly, "can't forget that." I buttoned her shirt up the back for her and we went out front to wait for David and Jennifer. They drove up twenty minutes late.   
"Sorry, slept in. We were up late watching movies on our eight-foot screen," David said. He didn't have to rub it in! I remember ed the screen in our room, 11 inches, and all tha it showed was "how they make cheese." Sabrina and I got into the car. We stopped at a stoplight, and Keith pulled up on a motorbike with a Moltres head painted on its front. He followed us to the Pokemon League HQ in Azure, a Gym. Azure Gym was blue with a lake out front. We pulled up and walked inside. The officials there were quite direct, but they stated the same thing as Ash did. We had to infiltrate the rocket base and find out about their creations. They said that we could spend the day at the Gym as Gym Leaders for a day. The first contestant was a boy, twelve years old, with an odd pokemon.  
"Who're you? You're not the Gym Leader here," The kid said.  
"Yes, I am," I told him, "We'll use two pokemon each."  
"Ok! Jason calls Totodile, go!" He yelled, releasing a small blue pokemon that looked like an alligator.  
"Articuno, let's rock!"  
"Totodile, Bubble attack," the boy yelled. His Totodile's bubbles bounced harmlessly off Aticuno's feathers.  
"Articuno, Flying Drill!" Articuno flew up and gained speed, then came down and whirled. It knocked Totodile out.  
"You're too powerful. I forfeit," the kid said. I gave him the Azure Badge, anyway, for trying. The Gym Leader, a guy named Chris, walked up.   
"I've never seen these pokemon. Let me see your pokedex. I showed him the Masterdex. He sifted through the entries.   
"Haven't seen it, haven't seen it, haven't seen it, wow!" he exclaimed.   
"What, those pokemon are common where I come from," I told him.  
"Wait, I've seen some of these! I have their evolutions!" He said, whipping out his pokedex. I looked at the pokemon he was pointing to. Slowpoke, yeah, I had that. And Slowbro. I said so, too.   
"What's Slowbro? Wait, look at these pokemon first. His pokedex showed a Slopoke with a crown on and a massive, sparkling Onix.  
"SlowKing and Haganeru!" he said, unveiling the pokeballs.   
"How would I go about evolving mine?" I asked.  
"Well, for Slowking you have to..." he trailed off as the Gym filled with smoke.  
"Prepare for trouble!"  
"Not again!" Sabrina and David yelled.  
"Quiet! And make that double," came the second voice, which inevitably came from James.  
"To protect the world from devastation!"  
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"  
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"  
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"  
"Jessie!"  
"James!"  
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"  
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"  
"Persian! Dat's right!"  
"Mew, let's rock!" I yelled. Persian was already on it. Mew took a bite in the head before I caught Persian in midair.   
"Persian, tell me something, did you like being a Meowth?"  
"Well, kinda, it woiked bettah wit da motto!"   
"I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! Mew, Devolution Beam!" SHHHHHINK! Mew pulsed out psychic energy.   
"Look what they did to Meowth! Arrrgh!" yelled Persian, errr... Meowth! He had been de-evolved. Having already reached level 100 he could never go back to being a Persian!  
"Freeze!" James had a gun. I pulled out a pokéball, recalling the tired Mew.  
"Pokeball, go!" I yelled, throwing the next pokeball on my belt. Sabrina shrieked when it showed Trex. I could feel my psychic power draining. Mewtwo came out of its pokeball to form a psychic barrier against the blackout. I didn't expect this! I had to call Trex back, but where was the pokéball?  
"Looking for something?" Jessie asked, holding the Monsterball.   
"Gimme that, damn it!"  
"Muddog, go, Tackle, get that pokéball!" David yelled, on queue. Muddog leapt, James shot at it. The bullets passed throught the muddy body and ricocheted off the walls. I dove. Mewtwo teleported me behind James with his last strength as the resistance field closed in on him. He was relieved of his power, but I had teleported. Sabrina just stood there on the other side of the room. She had actual physical strength, one of the last remnants of her days as Evil Sabrina. She had been in enough fist fights that her psychic power had been forgotten, and I could still see evidence of it in her. I jumped James from behind, kicking his gun and whipping out both of mine, which I kept in a harness in my jacket.   
"Don't move, under Pokémon League authority I am placing you under arrest. No reading of rights, if you move I'll blow your brains onto the wall," I yelled. David and Sabrina had their guns out by now also, keeping Jessie and Meowth under wraps. I kicked James gun away, and he backed into a wall.  
"I said, "don't move," remember that?"  
"Uh-huh," he said, nodding.  
"Then don't move!" I yelled, cocking the gun.  
"Come on, you couldn't kill your own father, could you, son?"  
"Huh?" everybody except Jessie and James yelled. I just gasped.  
"Quit the bluff, Rocket."  
"It's true. Return the Trex and you can prove it yourself with your psychic power," Jessie said. I called Trex back. Then I examined James and My DNA psychically, I almost passed out. Sabrina caught me as I fell. He wasn't lying. He was trying to save himself from the bullet. I stood back up.  
"How did this happen?" David asked. The Rockets looked at each other, then James began.  
"Thirty years ago we got married, as you probably know from our records." I nodded. Jessie started, "on our honeymoon we got a bit too drunk, and well, several weeks later we discovered you."  
"Yes, but when you were born we gave you up for adoption. Your temporary home was blown up by our boss the next day, but we said nothing. Out of sight out of mind, if you will," said James.  
"And then I was raised by Alakazams in the forest," I said, finishing it for them.  
"That doesn't explain the psychic abilities, though," said David.  
"But it does," put in Sabrina, "the Alakazams imparted them to him as their foster child and student."  
"Oh great, my parents are these guys?"  
"Yes, unfortunately. I told you James, you shouldn't have had the second martini!"  
"You're the one who had all the Champagne, Jessie!"  
"Will you two stop yappin'?!" Meowth yelled as the two argued over who had been drunker. I was about to turn them in, but realized I shouldn't do that to my own parents. I erased their memories and teleported them Rocket HQ.  
"That'll fix 'em," Sabrina said, recognizing the technique.   
"Bye, I have to take a rest," I said, lying badly. I needed to get away from the reality that the world's worst bad guys were my parents. They were bad at being bad! I teleported back to the room at the hotel and sat on the bed, suppressing tears. I hated emotions, and had thought about eliminating them from my system. Then I remembered that would take away my friendship with David, and my love with Sabrina. I knew there was one place I would feel welcome. I teleported to Saffron City, hours away. My hometown looked all right, but I knew Sabrina couldn't come here. Only people at the gym let her into the town, and she was not well liked outside of the Gym compound. Everyone remembered insane Sabrina, from years before, and the fact that she hadn't aged a day since then wasn't helping anything. I sat on the doorstep of what had once been a home, before the accident. Sabrina and I didn't talk about it anymore, it was after that little accident that she had become Dark Sabrina. I hadn't done anything but show up, but half of Saffron had been destroyed in the fight. I had left, under her father's instructions. The town imprisoned Sabrina in her own Gym. She had hated the people of the town, and maybe for a good reason. After Ash saved her she was herself again, and I was glad. We had fallen back in love, and now we were going to get married. Her parents had liked me in the beginning, but now, the harbored some hidden resentment at me. One I was helpless to brush off. Now I was back, and her parents already knew. They would be here any second to give me a talking to. This was the part I hated. Then he materialized. I couldn't see him, but could feel his presence. Sabrina's father had a powerful aura. He also was a very powerful trainer. I didn't want to mess with him. If anyone on Earth could beat me, it was he.  
"Hello, James," he said reservedly. I turned.  
"Hello, dad, can I call you dad?" I asked in what I hoped was a harmless tone. A smile crossed his face, but for only a second. Then he psychically lifted me into the air and brought me close to his face.   
"And how is my daughter?"  
"Fine, sir," I answered, very directly. I wanted, more than anything to avoid a fight.  
"Then why are you here, not keeping her safe?" What part of 'she can take care of herself' didn't he understand.  
"You wouldn't understand."  
"Try me," he growled. I started. Then he slammed me at a wall. I used all my power to slow myself down, but couldn't stop. Then I felt another presence, and I was stopped.  
"Lay off him dad," Sabrina said, materializing behind me.   
"Is he treating you alright?"  
"Yes, fine, just go home dad," she told the old man. He teleported away after a little more coaxing. Sabrina turned to me.  
"James, you can't run away from the truth. Just because they are evil doesn't mean you are."  
"Maybe I am, can you really trust me anymore, knowing who I am?"  
"Yes, I trust you, you're my fiancé, for Goddish sakes! I love you!"  
"Do you, now?" I asked, not even trusting myself at all.  
"Yes, damn it," Sabrina said, on the verge of tears. I enfolded her in a hug, not letting her see the tears forming on my own eyes. We remained at the ruins of the house for a while, until it started to rain, and we teleported to a café. The afternoon sun had been blotted out by clouds, making it dark as night outside. Night, that reminded me. We had a party to go to, tonight at Ritz Azure. Sabrina walked up to the counter, and proceeded to order two cups of coffee, or tried to anyway. In a second the waiter had a gun in her face.  
"Leave me alone, demon!" He shouted. I tossed the gun away, walking up and letting Mewtwo out of his pokéball. My legendary birds, Sabrina's Alakazam, and her Gengar followed. Mewtwo leapt, almost gracefully to the counter top. He stared down at the waiter, narrowing his eyes, letting a psychic ball of fire gather in his palm. He pulled his arm back, readying to fire. The waiter cringed, sensing his impending doom. A man in the restaurant jumped up, pulling a semiautomatic that was obviously illegal out of his jacket. He let off a couple rounds, hitting Gengar, the bullets stopped in the middle of its body, floating as if in jelly. Gengar looked down at the peculiar things in his body. Mewtwo released the ball of fire at the man, frying him into a crisp. The waiter used the second to whip out a shotgun. He fired at Sabrina, yelling, "Demon!" Gengar took the shot, jumping in front of her. He fell, puzzling at the round objects joining the semiautomatic bullets in his body. I jumped on the waiter, pinning him. I knocked the shotgun away.   
"Just apologize and I won't fry you!"  
"Go to Hell, demon lover!" I got up off him.   
"Sabrina, we're leaving," I said, forming a plan. We called back our pokémon and walked out. The waiter stood speechless. After we had gone twenty feet I spun on my heel and dropped into fighting stance. I gathered psychic energy in my hands. Sabrina followed suit. Tiny orbs of psychic energy gathered in our hands, manifesting themselves into larger balls. Then, simultaneously, we released. Two burning hot balls flew at the café. The waiter looked at us in disbelief. The first ball hit the building, melting through the window and hitting the counter. The second followed, destroying a table. Then the building exploded. Debris crashed around us. We walked away, letting Jenny and a fire squad handle the inferno. Another thing for them to hate us for. Well, once Jenny investigates, she'll find out it was a drug lord's hideout. We walked to the city limits, and then teleported back to the mainland. We arrived in the Gym, next to David and Chris. Agent K had entered while we were gone. He had his pokemon out when we arrived, and was sparring with David.   
"Let us play," Sabrina said, pulling out a pokeball.  
"Three on three, Sab," I said pulling out three pokeballs and letting them all out. Articuno Zapdos Moltres. My favorite trio.  
"Sabrina calls Gengar, Alakazam, Mr. Mime!" she said, releasing her three. My birds gathered. Then the MasterDex beeped.   
"It is said that when all three legendary birds gather their trainer can order them to use the Summon attack. No one has ever done it, though, because it is only possible with the original three," Dexter read out. My birds, they were the originals. I had traveled in time to collect them, and now I would see what they could do. Sabrina heard the readout too, and stood watching.  
"Ok, well, Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres, Summon, now!" I yelled. The birds moved together, firing each of their respective elements into the middle of the circle they formed while flying. There was a blinding flash of light and a pokemon appeared. It was a huge bird. My pokedex analyzed it.   
"Lugia: summoned by all three legendary birds. It is the most powerful bird pokemon known to date," said Dexter. Chris gasped. Agent K looked on wonderingly.   
"Wow, I thought that was only a legend!"  
"It is, Keith," I said. I checked my watch. It was six thirty, we had time to go back to our rooms and get ready for the Rocket Party. We rode back in the car with David and Jennifer, even though Sabrina and I could have teleported back. It was more social. We arrived at the Pokemon Center, and Sabrina and I got out. We checked in with Joy while Jennifer and David took Keith to his house.  
Sabrina and I went into the room and changed for the party. I wore my assigned gear: a beginner trainer's fatigues. Sabrina changed into a sexy black dress. We had about ten minutes to kill before the others returned. We decided to watch TV. There was a movie on. We sat down and watched. Ten minutes passed. They weren't there yet. Twenty minutes passed. Forty minutes. Sabrina was asleep on my shoulder. I let her down slowly. I arranged a pillow under her head. Then I called David on the cell phone.   
"David, where are you?" you said you'd be here in half an hour.  
"An hour and a half, James," he said, pointing my mistake out.  
"Oh, shit, sorry, man. Bye," I said, hanging up. I put the phone down. And went over to Sabrina and kissed her on the forehead.  
"At least aim right," she said, her eyes still closed. She pulled me back to her and kissed me harder. I lay down on the bed next to her. We kissed again.   
"You know, James, it is kind of naughty to do it in the Pokemon Center," she said.  
"We did it last night," I countered, "besides, naughty is fun." She giggled girlishly. We had had no time to ourselves because of our demanding jobs. Now we got to spend more time together. Even more next week on our honeymoon to the Mandarin Islands on the Cruise Ship Tangerine. I knew right now that that wouldn't work, and that we'd end up in Puerta Vista with a bunch of old friends. Call it a premonition  
"Naughty is more fun," she said. She had really changed from the Sabrina that had split her personalities. The one who had mercilessly beaten Ash and Gary. That was also forty years ago. I undid the clasp on her dress's back. We kissed again. Then someone knocked on the door. We broke apart the passionate embrace. I quickly redid the clasp on her dress. She got up.  
"David," we said, in unison. Sure enough, there was David. We got in the car, and drove to Keith's house. We rang the doorbell.   
"Shit! Coming!" he yelled. There was a clatter and he opened the door.  
"Ready?" I asked. He had his things packed in a bag, which he slung into the trunk with our stuff. A girl followed him out the door.  
"And who's your date?" Sabrina asked, looking over at the girl. I immediately knew it was a water trainer.  
"Lily Waterflower, daughter of Daisy Waterflower of Cerulean City, pleased to meet you," she said. Misty's niece. They piled into the car with us. Sabrina and Lily were fast friends, discussing hair, make-up, and whatever else girls talk about. It surprised me that Sabrina would even think about that stuff.   
"Does he walk in on you too?" Keith asked.   
"Yeah, just ten minutes ago, actually," I said.   
"Does he plan that?"  
"Nah, it's just a David thing. Like Goddish gave him the strangest timing in the world. He's there whether you need him or not."  
  
We got to the party, which was in a not so really incredible neighborhood. The party was in a clean building, probably to encourage new recruits. David and I sat down in a sitting area while the girls went off to chat. Keith went to talk to the Rockets.  
"So, how are things with you and Sabrina?"  
"How so?"  
"You know," he said, "do you ever, well, you know."  
"Well, actually," I had reservations about discussing my personal life with anyone, even my best friend, "go figure. We're getting married next week."  
"Oh," he responded, knowingly.   
"I don't have to ask you the same question," I said.  
"Why not?"  
"Because, I'm psychic."  
"Yeah," I said. Then my attention was attracted by a familiar presence. Dave! And Jake, with Marissa. I saw the three enter, worried looks on their faces. Dave spotted me and told the other two. They walked over.   
"What are you doing here? Are you here for the Rise?" Jake asked, using the slang for our undercover operation.   
"Yeah, why?"  
"We're the Rangers that're working with you," he said.  
"Yeah, I'm now officially Ranger H," Dave said.  
"And I'm Ranger T," Jake said.  
"Why not J?" I asked Jake.  
"My real name is Troy, Jake's my middle name."  
"Oh," I said.   
"How's everything?" David asked.  
"I got new Pokemon," Dave said, revealing new pokeballs. There was a Charmeleon, and several others that weren't incredible. Then our conversation was interrupted as a Rocket stood up to a podium and began to speak.  



	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
New Beginnings  
  
  
  
  
  
"Tonight," began the Rocket, " we will be accepting forty new recruits to our organization, of sorts. You will be working to help pokemon. Sabrina, standing next to me, rolled her eyes.  
"How many of them do you think buy that?" she asked, gesturing towards the beginner trainers.   
"Beats the hell outta me," I answered.  
"Yeah, me too."  
"Just remember not to use our powers in the Rocket Base until we need to. Can't give ourselves away."  
"Yeah, that'll present some problems."  
"There's more. What about us? I hope they at least let us sleep in the same room. I'm not about to let you sleep in any old Rocket room, with Goddish knows how many horny little Rocket trainees."  
"You really think that those Rockets are that bad?"  
"Who do you think my parents are?"  
"You've got a point there!"  
"...But for now, we'll start the music, and enjoy yourselves."  
  
Someone turned up some old music in the background. Sounded like a waltz of some type. Rockets would do anything for new recruits.   
"May I have the pleasure of this dance?" asked Lily. I looked up. She flashed me a seductive glance. Sabrina was there in a second.  
"Shove off, Saffron Psycho," Lily said, "he's mine." Sabrina's bad reputation was always turning up.   
"Wrong again," Sabrina said, "He's spoken for," she said, showing off her engagement ring.  
"Oh, I see, how... interesting."  
"Yeah, so move it." Lily walked away. Sabrina sat down on the arm of the chair I was in. She looked worried.   
"Do you enjoy having girls fight over you?" she asked, jokingly, attempting to improve the mood.  
"I don't know, it is kind of fun." I answered, playing along. I took her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. I saw a Meowth tuning the music in the control booth. Typical Rocket pokemon. Sabrina and I discussed the action plans, trying to disguise the conference as a loving conversation.  
"We'll have to use Confiscators," I told her, slipping her five of the strange pokeballs. We continued to dance, and discuss the downfall of Team Rocket. Hopefully soon the Rockets would be finished for good, and Sabrina and I could go back to training pokemon like we always had. I spotted Dave, dancing with a Jynx. It pulled him towards its face.  
"No, please, don't kiss me! Arggh!" He fell asleep. A Machop dragged him over to a chair and propped him up. He continued to sleep.  
"Another reason I'm lucky to have you," I told Sabrina. She laughed.  
"And I've been your best friend for a long time."  
"I think we can call it more than friendship now," I said, transmitting the memory about the storage closet on the chopper.  
"Definitely," she said. I looked into her eyes, almost transfixed by the pupils, that seemed to swirl like water. I spied David and Jennifer from the corner of my eye, and Jake and Marissa. Even Keith and Lily were dancing. And then there was Dave, out cold in a chair. Sabrina and I kept dancing. The music slowed and the lights dimmed. We kissed. The lights flashed back on. I opened my eyes, and so did she. We pulled apart. We weren't supposed to be distracted on missions.  
"Now, trainers, we are accepting any new volunteers for Team Rocket!"  
"Yes, c'mon down!" Trainers that didn't wimp out walked down a ramp and into a giant underground passage. The Rockets were carefully monitoring anyone who left. Jennifer pretended to have second thoughts so she could transmit info to us from the Pokemon League HQ in Azure. We were bussed several miles along until we came to a door where we disembarked and were shown to rooms. I entered mine, and set my stuff down. Someone knocked at the door. I opened it to reveal Sabrina, with her bag slung over her shoulder.  
'How'd you get them to let you in?"  
"Slipped the guy a hundred bucks. Marissa and Lily pulled the same trick. That Rocket is rich!" I laughed, thinking about what the guy was going to spend the three hundred on. Probably booze. Or drugs. Or both.  
"Unfortunately we were only given a single bed."  
"No prob, we'll fit in fine," she said.   
"Hey, wait, where's the bathroom?" As if to answer he question the loudspeakers in the hall said, "there is one unisex bathroom down the hall. It has hot tubs and showers."  
"Yeah, whatever!" we said sarcastically.  
"Do you know what kind of diseases you can get from those!"  
  
We walked into the shower area, to learn that it was open, no stalls or personal shower areas. We headed towards the closed hot tubs. I was about to open the door when Marissa and Jake pushed past us and got in.  
"Sorry, I know you'll understand, Kelley," Jake said, putting his arm around Marissa. The entered. I could here giggling as they locked the door.  
"Well, there's no doubt as to what they're doing in there," Sabrina said, looking somewhat disgusted.  
"You'll have to remember that we did that last night at the pokemon center," I said as Sabrina and I turned towards another room.   
"It's not that that I'm mad about, it's that we didn't get the private room."  
"Yeah, well, there's always tonight."  
I turned on the faucet and soaked my hair, making it lose its usual spikiness. Suddenly the door burst open, and a Rocket, maybe seventeen entered. The other girls in the room quickly vacated, leaving Sabrina the only girl in the room, excepting Lily who stood in the corner with Keith.  
"Looks like I got some fresh meat!" said the Rocket. A few Rockets laughed nervously. The bigger Rocket's eyes landed on Lily, and he walked over to her. Keith jumped in the way.  
"Don't touch her, or there is going to be a fight," he warned, producing a pokeball from Goddish knows where. The rocket pushed him aside and approached his girlfirend.  
"Go, Oodairu!" Keith yelled, releasing a water dragon.  
"Argh! Don't hurt me," The Rocket yelled, pulling his hands off a shrieking Lily. She smiled as Keith's Oodairu flung the Rocket across the room. He landed.  
"To damn greedy to share the wealth, eh?!" He yelled at Keith, who was comforting Lily. Lily smiled and kissed Keith on the cheek. They left back to their room, trying not to attract more attention. Now the Rocket headed towards Sabrina and I. I stepped into his way, he tried to push me over, but fell, my feet were firmly rooted on the ground. He suddenly look like he didn't want a fight.  
"Don't make me hurt you," I said quietly. He got up, mumbled something uncomplimentary and walked away. I knew enough martial arts to floor the guy, as did my wife, but I was supposed to be the gentleman.  
"Tight-ass new recruits," he said as he left. Sabrina and I started back towards the room. I locked the door, making sure the Rockets couldn't get in my room. Sabrina crawled into the bed and slept. I pulled out my laptop computer and logged on to the internet. I sent E-mail to the League, describing the base and its entrance, and then deleted my history to making it untraceable.  
"Come to bed, James," Sabrina called, beckoning me with her hand. I walked over to the bed and got in.  
"Aren't you gonna kiss me goodnight," she asked with fake sadness in her tone, masking the seductiveness of her voice.   
"Yeah, I guess," I said, kissing her.   
"Good, I'd hate to have to do without that," she said, again seductive.  
"Do you think the Rockets will hear us? We are commiting a romantic act in a bed owned by Team Rocket, that's something I thought I'd never do."  
"Get over it," she said. I could feel her skin against mine. I kissed her again and psychically turned off the computer, the last light in the room. Sabrina whispered into my ear, "I love you."  
  
We awoke the next morning to find a small package slipped under the door. It contained two Rocket uniforms.   
"Do you think this is too revealing?" Sabrina asked, questioning the shirt, which was cut very high.  
"Nah, it's sexy, and besides, every other girl here is wearing one," I told her.  
"And what about these?" she asked, holding up the matching pants that looked like they would be hard to fit on a pikachu, "kind of tight, doncha' think?"  
"Hell, yeah, but they match, and they're sexy too."  
"Whatever," she replied. I tried on the black undershirt. It was warm and tight. No wonder Jessie and James were well adapted. The Rocket clothing was cheap and synthetic, but at least the shirt was warm. It seemed to be made of   
  
"We expect the best of the trainers here to work in Team. The worst trainers and their pokemon will be or imprisoned. You will have several match-ups, if you win, you survive, if you lose you will go to the loser's circle. The worst forty trainers are in the slammer. Got it?" asked a Rocket.  
"Got it!" shouted the whole group. What had we gotten ourselves into? This looked bad. I just hoped it wouldn't come down to me versus one of the other agents. Especially David or Sab. They were my best friend and Fiance, respectively. I'd sacrifice myself before one of them could get hurt. I knew, even then that that was what it would come down to in the end. The first match was me against a kid with blond hair and blue eyes. He reminded me of myself when I was younger. I didn't want to beat him, I knew he would probably die. My pokemon were more than a matchI beat him, realizing it was him or me that would die. He walked slowly towards the loser's circle, ready to face his cold cell. I respected him, but also pitied him. I watched David dispatch a kid with an Articuno. Then I saw Sabrina destroy a twenty-year-old woman with a Nidoqueen.  
  
"Raichu, pulverize it!" I spun, and witnessed an amazing pokemon, a Raichu, which seemed to have psychic power. I saw its electric aura grow, engulfing its opponent, a Bakufuun, in a wave of yellow light. The Bakufuun reached for its head as if in pain and fainted. I clapped.  
"Excellent battle, what's your name, trainer?"  
"William. I'm from Vermillion City, on The Island."  
"Oooh! William, I love it when you use that attack!" Yelled a girl, who ran up and hugged William. He looked kind of embarrassed, but hugged her back. He introduced her as Olivia, his girlfriend. Sabrina walked up, Alakazam tagging along behind.  
"Hello, William," she said, knowing his name from the brainwaves she shared with me.   
"Hello, uhh, uhh," he said. He had no psychic power.  
"Sabrina," I said, introducing her. She and Olivia struck it off well. They chatted about pokemon, although their tastes conflicted. Sabrina was a psychic devotee, while Olivia was a bird person. William and I weren't any closer. He was a direct electric trainer, while I trained only the rarest pokemon, as well as psychic. As we talked we tried to hatch a plan to rescue the trainers the Rockets planned to kill.   
"Well, we could... no, it won't do," he offered a suggestion that didn't work. We decided to watch the fights.  
  
"Next up is Lily Waterflower fo Cerulean City. Her opponent is Zachary "Zap" Surge, of Vermillion!" yelled an anouncer.   
"I really hate him," William said, pointing at Surge, "His grandad was a Gym Leader. We've always been rivals, but he cheated his way into Pokemon League.  
"Why are you here anyway?" I asked him, " I mean, this is a Rocket scam, not Pokemon League."  
"I'm here to stop the Rockets," he said."Now that I know that what makes you so sure I won't turn you in?""Raichu says I can trust you. And I trust my Raichu.""Rai!" said the Raichu. It wouldn't enter its pokeball, just like Ash's pikachu."Dewgong, go!""Jolteon, go!" The first pokemon were out. This was a one-pokemon battle. Lose one, lose all. It looked bad for Lily."Dewgong, Ice Beam!" Lily yelled. Dewgong fired. The Jolteon was not hurt, but was frozen. It didn't attack. Dewgong pounded into the block, weakening it. The block of ice broke, and jolteon fell to the floor, injured severely. Dewgong came in fro the crushing blow with a tail slam, but Jolteon perked up its spike at the last second. Shocking Dewgong unconscious."And Zachary wins!" yelled the announcer. Keith was stunned. Lily fell to the floor, crying A rocket walked up to her."This is our first example as to what happens when you lose in Team Rocket," he said. The Rocket had a gun in hand and handcuffs at the ready."Any last words?" he asked her. She sobbed. Keith was by her side immediately. He pulled her to her feet. He stood in the way of the Rocket's gun."Natsume, we should do something!" I said to Sabrina, calling her by her Japanese name."No, Kojiro, it'd blow our cover," she said, referring to me by my Japanese name. There was a gunshot and Keith fell over, blood oozing from a hole in his chest."Li-ly," he gasped as the Rocket shoved the pistol in her face. She turned to run, but as she did, the Rocket fired. Her arm was hit. She fell. He aimed, Fired, her other arm was hit. The he repeated the prosess for her legs as well. He was going to make this painful for everyone. Us, and Lily. Now he aimed for her chest. He squeezed the trigger, and at that second Keith threw his last strength into his legs and threw himself at the Rocket. The Rocket's hand jumped, but not enough. The bullet went into Lily's head. Her head kicked back into the floor. Keith and the Rocket executioner were spattered with blood."Oh, Goddish," I heard David say. Lily Waterflower was dead. And her boyfriend, Keith, was injured severly. William and Olivia were in the ring, beside Keith immediately. They picked him up, and Raichu shocked the guard. It took twenty minutes of battling to subdue the Raichu. It was captured and sent to the Holding Area. William was thrown, struggling, into a cell far beneath the arena. Olivia was sentenced to working for Dan, the big Rocket that Sabrina and I had encountered in the shower, as an aide, or to put it more bluntly, concubine. I carried Keith to his room, where we lay him down and gave him a blood transfusion with some of David's, who was type O. I used psychic healing techniques to heal the bullet wounds, and keep him alive. Sabrina helped when I ran out of energy. A Chancey David had called out stayed with Keith through the night, keeping him safe. He mumbled about Lily into the night. She was gone. I couldn't believe it. I was only getting to know her, and now, she was dead. Gone forever. Forever, the word echoed in my mind. Sabrina and I meditated n our room, sitting in the Lotus Position, hovering inches above the floor. We pushed the bed off to one side of the smallish room, and teleported a medium sized futon, from the Pokemon center in Azure, there to sleep on instead. She said she'd sleep on the bed that night, but I woke up in the morning to find her next to me on the futon. I lay there, holding her tightly, wondering what would have happened if it had been her, and not Lily. She opened her eyes. I knew she could read my thoughts."It'll be all right in the end, Jiro," she said, kissing me."I hope so, Sab. I really do." We changed out of the usual Black psychic outfits we wore, and back into Rocket uniforms. Maybe today we'd find out just what was so secret here that it was worth killing trainers over. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
The Past Returns  
  
  
"You will be given the day off so we can sort out yesterday's little problems. Thank you. You must spend the day at the Rocket commissary or in your quarters," said the loud speakers.  
"I'm going to the commissary," Sabrina said.  
"I'll stay here and meditate. I need to after yesterday."  
"Well, be careful. Lock the door. We don't want Rockets in here."  
"Yeah, see you later," I called as she left. As I meditated scenes from my past came back to me.  
  
"James, will you bring me my kimono?"  
"Yeah, hold on," I answered. I grabbed the dark green and purple kimono off the couch where she had left it. I walked up to her room.  
"Here," I said, tossing it to her.  
"Come back to bed, James,"  
"No, not now," I told her. I had felt unfaithful to Sabrina just being there, but Sabrina was insane, and she was sleeping with Darien anyway.  
  
"You and Erika?!" Sabrina yelled as she entered the door. I guess time passes quicker then I thought while I'm meditating  
"Hey, hey, hey, we broke up, you tried to kill me," I explained. I hadn't realized I had been meditating that long. She put the groceries down on the floor.  
"That doesn't explain why you slept with her!"  
"I slept with her less than you did with Darien!"  
"What's all the commotion?!" David yelled, running into the room, pokeball in hand, ready for a Rocket assault. Instead he found Sabrina and I yelling at each other about infidelity.  
"We weren't even engaged back then."  
"You said you'd never do something like that!"  
"You did too!"  
"Something like what?" asked David.  
"Sleep with Erika!" she yelled.  
"Sleep with Darien!" I countered.  
"What's done is done!" David yelled, "So get over it and get back to your normal lives."  
"I'm sorry I exploded like that," Sabrina said.  
"Me too," I said. I held her close to me, then said, "we've got to save William, and Olivia."  
"Yeah, let's go." As we rode down the long hallway in a Rocket minicar I phased out again, more memories coming to me.  
  
"Haunter, I know you'll like it here." I said, releasing my Haunter at Pokemon Tower. Little did I know that it would be the Haunter that saved Sabrina. It floated off, towards the top story. I looked away, hoping he wouldn't see the tears in my eyes. Sabrina had given him to me, but he belonged here.  
  
"I guess this is yours," Sabrina said, handing me Haunter's pokeball.  
"Hey, guys, should we get Jake and Marissa?" David asked.  
"Yeah, the more the merrier." When we got to their room the door was unlocked, and they didn't answer. I pushed it open slowly.  
"Ohhhhhh! My head!" Jake said, lying on the floor. There was an empty bottle of Dr. Rocket soda on the floor between him and Marissa.   
"I think someone spiked the soda!" Jake said. I knew it was the Rockets. Marissa stood up.   
"Oww! What was that stuff?"  
"Trinitrochloride," I said inspecting the particles, "standard halucinagen, Rocket produced."  
"That explains the giant pink frogs!"  
"And the Senators..."  
"I think we need the day off," Jake and Mrissa said in unison.  
"Take it, we're gong to get that kid William and his girlfriend out of trouble."  
  
As we sped down the tunnel Sabrina and I sat in the back of the minicar. We sat quietly, talking to each other mentally.   
You know, I haven't seen Dave around.  
I think he lost in a match, he might be dead.  
One more Agent down. And how are we gonna break it to Daisy about Lily?  
I don't know Sab, I just don't know.  
"Hey, guys! Over here," yelled William. He was tucked into a small cage in a wall. I jumped off the minicar and unlocked it.  
"Thanks, they got my Raichu."  
"I know. We're headed up there to get it. Do you have other pokemon?"  
"No, just Raichu. He's my only pokemon.  
"It's very strong! I was amazed when I watched the battle."  
"Raichu isn't in the holding area!" Sabrina yelled, looking up from the computer screen she had accessed the security cameras from.  
"Raiii! Chuu!" the electricity came at me quickly, speeded by psychic energy. This Raichu was special. If it was anything it was a Psychu. I stopped the energy with my power, deflecting it away from the group. I hated being in front. Then I heard it. A low rumbling. Then the tunnel filled with blue light. A vortex opened behind me. I ran toward the car, to Sabrina, and safety. The air was being sucked into the vortex. I reached the car, straining against the wind. I felt Sabrina grab my hand. I grabbed William. Raichu clung to his foot. Sabrina braced herself against the open door. I could my grip on her hand slipping. I knew I was going through the vortex, but I wasn't going to die without a fight. Then I lost my grip. My head snapped up.  
"James!"  
"Sabrina!" And then I fell through. And then nothing. I realized I was dead. I would never see Sabrina again. I felt crushed. My life couldn't end this way, it couldn't! I cried.  
  
Wait! If I was dead, could I cry? I don't think so! Then I realized why it was so dark. I opened my eyes. William lay on the ground about twenty feet away. Raichu sprawled across his chest. I sat up and looked around. This must be an alternate dimension! That would be the only way we wouldn't have died. I had tangled with vortexes before, and I knew enough about them to know we were in the world of pokemon, probably with a strange twist. William sat up, holding his head.  
"Ouch!"  
"Hey, guess where we are?" I asked sarcastically.  
"Where?"  
"Saffron City, in another dimension."  
"What?"  
"You heard me. Now get up, we have to go visit the only person who can get us out of here."  
"Who?"  
"You'll see."  
  
Saffron Gym was different than usual. It was lighter, cheerier. That could be bad. I knocked, and Sabrina answered, surprisingly.  
"Get out of here, ghost!"   
"Hey, hold on Sab!" When I called her by her nickname she fell over, crying. I held her to me, letting her cry on my shoulder.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Follow me, it hurts too much to say it. I'll show you." She lead us into the back areas of the Gym, to her personal quarters. There was a door across from hers that said my name on it. It was padlocked. We walked into Sabrina's room. She pulled a book out from under her futon.   
"Read this," she said. I opened the book, revealing a newspaper clipping.  
  
Pokemon League - Today the world mourns as the bodies of master trainers Ash Ketchum and Kojiro Kai Li are carried out of Mt. Moon. The two were searching for rare pokemon. Ketchum's close friend Misty Waterflower from Cerulean City recalls, "He was a great friend, he never hurt anyone. This proves that life really isn't fair. I don't know what will happen without him. I feel like I can't go on."  
Gary Oak, Ash's rival recalls differently, "He wasn't the brightest kid around, but he was only fifteen. I'll miss him, even if he was a bit snotty." Ash's mother was not available for questioning. She has not left the house since the incident, and her faithful Mr. Mime has not let anyone near the house recently.  
"He was a great guy, and this stuff shouldn't happen. Mt. Moon should be closed down. I have half a mind to do it myself," comments Brock Stone, the Pewter Gym Leader.  
"Pity it happened to such a young, promising trainer. There was so much he could have achieved. We are planning to erect a memorial to him in Pallet Town's Town Hall Lawn" Said Professor Oak, one of Ash's mentors.   
Kai Li, also known as James Kelley, has a more obscure background, and only three people commented on him. Sabrina, Psychic Gym Leader says, "I sense that the world may now have a different fate, without him. I knew I shouldn't have let him or Ash go. Oh Goddish," at this she retreated to her Gym, and has not exited since to our knowledge. The two other commenters, his parents, wish not to be named.  
"We'll miss him, even though we didn't really know him as well as we would have liked. I only wish we could have spent more time with him," says his mother.  
"Yes, he was so young, and this should never have happened," Agrees his father.  
Memorial services will be held for Ash and Kojiro Saturday, August 13, at Indigo Plateau. All visitors are welcome.   
  
  
I put the paper down.  
"Oh, Goddish, Sab, I'm so sorry. I should explain," I said. William sat, reading the article I had handed him. He looked shocked.   
"How? How did you..." Sabrina trailed off, sobbing.  
"I'm not, from... Uh, I'm not the... Oh, hell, let me say it straight. I'm not the James you knew. I'm from a different dimension. We were sucked here through a vortex."  
"Huh?" Sabrina asked, loosening her death grip on my arm.   
"And we came here to get help. I know you know enough about vortexes."   
"Alright, I'll help you, but I have to go to your funeral," she said, her eyes full of tears. I hugged her. I couldn't see her like this.  
"It's alright, before I leave I'm going to sort all of this out," I told her, holding her closer.  
"Oh, Goddish, I missed you," she sobbed into my jacket. William was shocked. He was struck by the fact that I was dead, yet was standing in front of him.  
"One question," I said, not wanting to bother her, but I had to know.  
"What?"  
"What about William?"  
"Yes, he's still alive. He's the Cinnabar Gym Leader. He hated you and Ash. Said you would get yours someday. His comments about how you were evil were all over the news after you died. He just about runs the island now."  
"Oh Goddish, so I'm an asshole in this dimesion?" Asked William.  
Basically, yeah," she turned back to me, "Without you and Ash everything fell into disorder. in two days he had it under his control. I've heard he kidnapped Misty and Erika, as well as Duplica. Surge was found dead in his Gym, and so was his Raichu. It looks like they put up a fight, but he was too much.."  
"Oh great, so I'm a pervert too? Whoop de fucking do!"  
"Well, yeah."  
"Boy, I can't wait to kick my ass! When I see myself, I'm gonna punch myself so hard, I won't know what hit me" He said.   
"Slow down, first we have to go to his funeral," Sabrina said, breaking into tears again. I helped her and guided her down the hall. When we got to car the she still had her face on my shoulder. I hugged her.  
"I'll drive," William said, getting in front. Sabrina handed him the keys. We sat in the back of the limosine. I put the soundproof glass up, separating us from William. He noticed, but didn't seem to mind.  
"Sabrina, are you going to be alright?"  
"Yeah, I'm just depressed."  
"Losing someone you love hurts."  
"I know, I just didn't think it could ever be like this."  
"I know, I was as shocked as you when the rocks hit me. What did I just say?"  
"Oh my Goddish, you're bonding with your current self. It must be your psychic power. Maybe it'll help us find out if this was an accident or not."   
"Yeah, if it wasn't I am gonna kill the little shit who killed me already once here."  
"Hey, Kojiro-San, what am I like in your dimension?" Sabrina asked.   
"Well, you're, I don't know, you. You know, beautiful, sexy, well you know, you better than I do," I said.  
"Tell me more. Please," she said.  
"Well, if I ever get back, we're supposed to be getting married next week. Then I don't know, I guess we'll have to go along with whatever we want," I replied, not sure I was making coherent sense.   
"James," she said, drawing closer to me.  
"What?" I asked.  
"Kiss me, please."  
"Why?"  
"I don't think I can live without kissing you goodbye, even if it's not you, but is."  
"No, I'm not," I said, trying to shake off the influence.  
"Oh yes you are."  
"Am not," I said, looking into her eyes. Again, the watery swirling mystified me.  
"Kiss me," she said. I shook off the influence of the champagne. Thank Goddish for psychic power. She seemed to notice and did the same.  
"You know, I still want you to kiss me," she said.  
"I can read your mind, you know."  
"Then what are you waiting for?"  
"I don't know."  
"Then ki..." she broke off as I kissed her. Then the car stopped. We broke off and got out. Several people gasped, recognizing me. We entered the building. Ash's coffin lay in the aisle. My cremated remains lay in an urn next to it. Flowers were heaped on Ash's coffin. There was a single rose next to my urn. Good old James! I was starting to warm up to him after all these years of kicking his and Jesse's butts. He was my father, after all. Sabrina and I walked to the coffin and urn.   
"Goodbye, Ash, farewell, self," I said. Someone recognized me and gasped. Sabrina lay a black lotus by my urn. William walked up and said something quietly to Ash's coffin. He regarded my urn, and said something else. A boy walked up to the podium.  
"Despite the fact that they were criminals, these two were alive, and we can't help but feel bad. Just remember that it was these two scumbags that died, not you." It was the evil William! I noticed Lance in the back; he looked strained, but didn't get up. I knew that he was fighting himself not to call out his Dragonite and Kill the Evil William.   
"And despite their bad... Oh shit!" The Evil William exclaimed, seeing himself and I in the front row.  
  
To Be Continued...  



	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
Return Voyage  
  
  
"Well, well, well, If it isn't James, Sabrina and myself." Dark William turned to me, "How many times do you have to die?"  
"Too many for you to handle, asshole!" I yelled, pulling out my semi-automatic Pokemon League issue pistol. William had Raichu ready to attack.  
"Flarechu, go!" yelled dark William. I teleported the three of us to the Indigo Arena. I whipped out my Mew, thought again, and pulled out Lugia.  
"Lugia, go!"  
"Alakazam!"  
"Raichu, psyshock!" William yelled. Dark Flarechu took the hit, and returned its fury with a electaburn.  
"Lugia, elemental blast!" A huge blast filled the room. Alakazam passed out, both raichus were weakened. But they fought. Then William's Raichu tripped.   
"Yes!" yelled Dark William. I tackled him in his distraction. He was up on his feet, I swung a flying backwards roundhouse kick at him. Psyburn was too dangerous at this distance. Sabrina hovered in, and William helped Raichu up. It had hurt its leg, but was psychically healing it. He punched, I blocked. I kicked him across the room. He got up and pulled a device out of his jacket. A psychic dampner! Oh no! I felt the waves of energy wash over me. I felt weak, human. Sabrina fell to the ground. Sabrina was already too weak from the mental pain. I launched myself at Dark William. He pulled a pistol out of his jacket. I tried to avoid the bullets well, but I couldn't, and took a shot in the arm. Then he shot my leg. I felt a burning wave of pain course through me. He walked over and put the gun to my forehead.  
"William 2, James nothing. Ha! Psychic, what an idiot!" Sabrina looked up.  
"James..." she gasped, and then fainted, now Dark William had the activated Psychic Dampner clipped to his jacket. I closed my eyes, feeling the cool barrel of the gun against my head. I waited to die. I heard the gunshot, but didn't feel anything. I must be dead, I thought. At least it didn't hurt. I opened my eyes. Hey this wasn't heaven! This was the cold stone floor of the arena. Dark William toppled over, backwards, a bullet hole through his head. I looked up. There stood James, of Team Rocket. He blew the smoke from his gun. He aimed again, and fired, destroying the psychic dampner.  
"Thanks, again," I said, healing my bullet wounds.   
"You know we're aren't really your parents, right?" Jessie asked from behind him.  
"I was starting to think that."  
"We can't tell you who your parents are, we promised," Meowth said.  
"We're your 'Guardian Angels' of sorts. We have to act evil, but really we're quite good. The only reason your dimension's James said we were your parents was to escape the bullet."  
"What about the DNA?"  
"A trick. Nothing more. We are the best-financed force, next to the Pokemon Rangers, in the world.  
"What about Giovanni?" William asked, walking up. Sabrina, who he had been supporting, sat next to me. I took her hand.  
"Giovanni? He's a senile old man. He is now only a symbol of the Rockets."  
"One more thing. How do we get back home?"  
"There, and hurry," James said, pointing to an opening vortex. He appeared to be controlling it with remote control of some type. William and Raichu walked through. I called back Lugia. I helped Sabrina up.   
"Goodbye, love, forever," she said.  
"C'mon, you'll find someone else, just keep your eyes open. Take care of yourself," I told her. I kissed her.  
"I'll miss you!"  
"C'mon, Kelley, Buddha only waits three times," William yelled. I ran to the portal and jumped through. He had misquoted the proverb.   
  
I fell into my room. Sabrina was waiting there.  
"Good, I was hoping you'd wake up soon. It's been three days since you disappeared."  
"Well, I'm back. What happened?"  
"The Rockets said they were pleased with their selection of us new trainers, and were going to reveal their project to us."  
"What is it?"  
"They call it DemonStone."  
"Woah, sounds bad," I said, sitting up in the bed next to her. I put my arm around her shoulder. She snuggled closer. The clock said it was 3:27 AM. I ran my hand through her waist length black hair.  
"Did you miss me?"  
"Couldn't, you were there."  
"Huh?"  
"Long story, I'll tell you on our honeymoon." She leaned up against my side. I smiled, I had missed her, the other Sabrina wasn't the same, and she was hurt more than mine. I kissed her forehead. Then I wondered, would we get out in time for our honeymoon? Would we live long enough to? She looked up.  
"What are you worrying about?"  
"Nothing," I lied, but I knew she couldn't get past my mental block. She gave ì¥Á 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
Darkness Ensues  
  
"Guess what, things just got ugly," I told the Pokemon League team. We were seated around the table in David's room.   
"This isn't going to be good!" was the reaction I had gotten after I briefed them on the situation. The Mercs were good people, but they would do their job, even if it entailed hurting friends.  
"I'm sending all of you back," I said, "except for David, Sabrina, William and I. We're going to stay, and sort this shit out."  
"What'll you tell the Rockets when they find we're gone?"  
"I'll think of something," I replied as I teleported them to their respective homes.  
  
"A strain of Ebola?"  
"Yes, Sir." It may have been a different virus, but they're dead. I was forced to burn the bodies, with my Moltres clone," I said, dumping a pile of ashes onto the table. I hoped the Rockets would buy that.  
"Well, get those out of here, before someone else catches it."  
"Yes, Sir," I said, sweeping the ashes back into the can. An aide sterilized the tabletop, and I was dismissed.  
  
I felt the assasin's presence before I saw him, I also knew he had a psychic dampner. I entered my room, dropped, rolled, and pulled out my two Pokemon League issue automatic silenced 8mm pistols, brining them to bear on the man behind the door. He had the BioGen symbol on his coat. His hand went for a gun he was holding, but i let of a clip from one pistol, dropping him to the floor. I shot the psychic dampner, disposed of it, and carried the body to the nearest Rocket Commander.  
"Caught this guy sneaking around, had to fill him full o' lead."  
"I see, he's BioGen," the Rocket said.  
"Yes, Sir," I said.  
"Good work, um.." he looked at my nametag, "Kojiro! I'll see to it that you are put in for a promotion."  
"Thank you, Sir."  
"If you get the promotion, you won't be calling me sir anymore."  
"Yes, Sss, um, sorry, commander."  
  
I got back from the Rocket office with brand new Commander's patches on my new coat. Sabrina wasn't back yet from whatever she was doing. I took a shower. I got changed into a new set of clothes and lay down on the bed and waited for Sabrina. I closed my eyes and meditated.  
  
It was a year after the Muk experience. Our thirteenth birthday. To the dissapointment of her father Sabrina had been sleeping in my room more often. She said it felt safer. I guess her father bought that.   
"Morning, James," her voice echoed through my head. I opened my eyes to her face. She was smiling incessantly. I kissed her.   
"Good morning, lovely," I said. She smiled. Again, her parents were on assignment. They had been for her last three birthdays. Crime in Saffron had increased.  
"We really should get up," I said, running my hands through her hair.  
"Can't we just stay here all day? It's romantic. Please?"   
"For a while, but I have to give you your present."  
"Well, I guess we could get up, eventually," she said, pulling closer to me. I kissed her again. Now I didn't want to get up. But I had to give her her present.  
  
We got up, it turned out, several minutes later, when her Abra, with it's bad timing, appeared at the door. When we didn't see it, yelled, "Abrrra!" I looked up, away from Sabrina's face. She kissed my cheek.  
"What is it?"  
"Abra," I replied, "Okay, let's get up!" I said, with false enthusiasm. Sabrina straightened her hair. We changed into our good clothes. Her, in her drably colored suit, and I, in my drably colored coat and jacket. We went and bought breakfast at a bakery in Saffron downtown. Abra was safely in a pokeball. Thank Goddish.  
  
Where was she? I walked down a hallway in the psychic gym. I looked down at the present she had given me, a gemstone used to channel psychic energy. I stared into it, and could sense all the living things in the world. I concentrated on the gym. She was in her room, not too surprising. I walked down to her room. The door was half open, but her lights were off. She was meditating on the futon. I entered, closing the door.  
"Hi, beautiful," I said. She opened her eyes.  
"Hello, Kojiro-chan."  
"I have your present," I said, giving her the ornate box. She popped it open, revealing the contents.  
"Here's the other half," I said.  
"Other half?" she asked, looking at the ring in the box.  
"Yeah. Listen, Sabrina, umm, will you, umm. I mean, well, umm..." I trailed off.  
"Yes," she said, smiling, I could barely see it, though.  
"Thanks, I was making a fool of myself," I said. She laughed, then pulled me to her and kissed me. I returned her kiss. We lay back on the bed. My hands traced down the front of her jacket.   
"Shit, Sab, where are the buttons on this?"  
"Back."  
"Thanks," I replied, unbuttoning her jacket. Just like me to do something totally stupid like that. Damn testosterone. Clouds my judgement.  
  
I awoke in her room. She was drifting back to life too.   
"Good morning, love," I said.  
"To you, too," she replied. I handed her her jacket.   
"This was on my side of the bed. We'd best get up and clean up the room before your parents get back. Your dad won't take to kindly to the fact that we, umm, nevermind."  
"My thoughts exactly."   
  
We were eating breakfast when the portal opened. I didn't have a chance to save her. Seconds later the vortex dumped her out on the floor, unconcious. A name echoied through my mind. "DARIEN!"  
"Shit," I picked her up. Her eyes fluttered open. Then she slugged me in the face. That was when I knew she had become evil. My Sabrina would never hurt someone who didn't deserve it, and I sure as Hell felt I didn't. Obviously she didn't share my sentiments. I floated up. She kept attacking, but I refused to retaliate, to hurt my beloved would hurt me even more than her psychic fireballs. Then her parents showed up, and she shot a fireball at them. Her mother was hit, and suddenly shrank to the size of a doll. Hey, that wasn't a regular fireball! Her father teleported away.  
Run, James, she's too powerful his voice echoed through my head. I teleported away, far away, to Azure city. Right into the middle of Pokemercenaries Inc. Onto the card table. We made friends quickly enough, but Brian and Snowflake would have killed me for crushing the table if Megan and Kim hadn't stopped them. I figured I'd stay and work with the Mercs for a while. The seemed decent enough  
  
I woke up in my bed at the Merc housing. I was sweating. I had had a nightmare again, about how I had caused Sabrina to go insane, or whatever it was. I knew it had been the vortex, but couldn't get over it. I got out of bed and went to the fridge. I opened it to reveal food that had probably been there for years. The pasta looked like a fossil. I grabbed a take out bucket of Japanese food. I dumped it on a plate and heated it up. I sat down at the couch and put the plate on the coffee table.   
"Can I share that with you?" asked Megan, looking tired. She brushed her long red hair out of her face.  
"Sure, sit down," I said, offering her my seat.  
"It's alright, you don't have to get up, there's room for two," she said, sitting next to me.  
"Sorry, I'm a bit off lately."  
"I know, it hurts to lose someone close to you."  
"I'll get her back, I hope," I said, feeling tears coming to my eyes. I turned away.  
"Please excuse me," I said, sobbing. Just thinking of my Sabrina hurt me. I could feel Megan's hand on my shoulder. She hugged me.  
"I know you'll be alright, you're resourceful, you'll find some way to save her," she said, soothingly.  
"Thanks, Meg, I really needed that."  
"S'nothin' love."  
  
I opened my eyes, and there was a gun barrel in it. Robert poked my face with it.  
"C'mon League Boy," he said.  
"You realize my fiance's going to kill you, right."  
"I took care of her, she's with Megan and the others," he said. I let him play his game, and went with him to the Merc rec room. He shoved me to the floor. Sabrina was there too, in a corner, with a psychic dampener near her. He shoved the gun in my face again.   
"What are you doing here."  
"I'm not telling you anything, dickweed."  
"What in the hell?" Megan yelled. She had just entered the room, flanked by the rest of the group. Russel grabbed Robert and bent the gun from his hand. Then he threw him up against a wall.  
"He's a leaugie, I swear," Robert squealed. Megan looked at me.  
"You work for the League?"  
"Yeah." She turned to Robert.  
"Is that enough to kill him, Robert, he's my friend, as well as the rest of our friends."  
"Good enough for me," Robert said, turning to give her a smile, I spun in that second, pulled a fast kick under him, and crushed the pistol with my mind. I stepped on his head, and Megan brought her handgun to bear on him.  
"I swear, if you ever try to hurt my fiance again, I will kill you!" Sabrina growled, walking over, freed from her bonds by Brian. Snowflake, armed with a tranquilizer, entered, as did Sugar. He helped his boyfriend up. They stood, away from the group.   
"We're leaving, now, and we're resigning our Rocket employment," Robert said as they left.  
"We are?" asked Sugar.  
"Yeah, I can't stand Rockets, Leaguies, or even BioGen anymore," he said. They left.  
"Well, there go two more, those are 10 and 11 this year," Snowflake said, marking their names off on a sheet.  
"I must have fallen asleep, and then I woke up, and there he was with the dampner. He made a pass at me, so I kicked him in the nads. They tied me up, and got me in here," Sabrina said. I held her close to me.  
"Well, I won't let anything happen to you. You know you mean more to me than anything else in the world, myself included."  
"I know," she said, laying her head on my shoulder. I ran my fingers through her hair. I missed having time alone together, even though we somehow managed to be together.   
"Break it up, you two," Snowflake said. We all played cards, making sure that if Robert should show, we'd catch him.   
  
After it was over Sabrina, and I went back to the shower area. We got to get a hot tub, since it was so late most of the others were asleep. She settled into the water, next to me. I put my arm around her. I was enjoying the peace, knowing tomorrow wouldn't be so relaxed, with Robert and Sugar loose. Oh well, enjoy life while you can, I thought, kissing my fiance's forehead. I produced Sake I had 'borrowed' from a Rocket commander. After a while we headed back to the room, climbed into bed, and went to sleep. Well, not directly to sleep. Definitely not, especially because I had a premonition, someone was going to die tomorrow, someone I was close to, and I wanted to enjoy my last day of peace.   
  



	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
End Game  
  
  
I woke up, figured that I should do whatever I had to save whoever it was that was going to get killed, and eased myself out of bed, careful not to wake Sab. I made my way to the rec room, where we always were. Megan, and of course, Kim, were there drinking coffee. I poured myself a cup and sat down, explaining the situation. The more of them I could warn, the better chance we had of getting out.  
"Punk Bitch, can't touch my cornbread!" Snowflake, entered, laughing as he said his little phrase. I wondered here in the hell he heard that. The others filtered in, including my fiancé, and we sat down at the table. I explained the situation.  
"What the hell!" yelled Russel, I turned to look, and suddenly all the doors closed, locked and air tightened, metal plating sliding down behind them. Spouts came up from the floor. And then a small bomb dropped from hidden latches in the ceiling. Gas poured from the spouts, and I held my breath. The others fainted, Sabrina and my psychic power helping keep us awake. I tried to crush the bomb, or teleport it, but couldn't. the plating must have been resistant to my power. The bomb blew, and I dove, Sabrina followed suit. I took a breath, and then realized I shouldn't have.  
"Oh, shi..." I passed out, and Sabrina soon after that.  
  
I awoke in a strange room. A guy about my age sat in the corner, typing on computer. He had blondish orange hair and sharp features.  
"Thought you'd wake up eventually."  
"Who in the hell are you?" I looked around the room. Sabrina was asleep on another cot, just down from mine.  
"Casey Adkisson, Pokemon League backup plan."  
"Back up for what?" I asked, rubbing my head. Headache!  
"You, J, and the others."  
"Hey, you got any aspirin?"  
"Sure, hold on," he said. He went into the next room. Thank Goddish I was alive, and Sabrina. David hadn't been there, so he was all right too. That was good. But there was something missing. My head hurt too much to think clearly. Oh Goddish, the Mercs!  
"Hey, Casey, what about the other people in the room with us?"  
"You were the only ones there," he said, handing me the aspirin.   
"No, what about the mercs?"  
"Mercs?"  
"Oh, Goddish, not all of them!" I put my hands over my face, and cried. Every sob hurt my head. Sabrina stirred, and she woke up. Casey took the aspirin to her as well. She downed two pills, and sat up.  
"Uhhh," she groaned, holding her head.   
"Now you know how Psyduck feels," Casey said, putting his arm around her shoulders. She shrugged it off, shoving the hand her ring was on into his face, he backed off.   
"The Mercs..." I said.  
"What?" Sabrina asked, shakily standing.  
"Dead. Megan, Snowflake, Brian, and Kim. Russel too."  
"Ohhh! That's terrible, who did it?" Her gaze became steely, and she picked Casey up by his collar.  
"Who did this?" He looked down at her, mumbling something about needing to change his shorts now.  
"The BioGen agents. When Megan refused to kill James, Sugar and Robert reported them and got orders to have them destroyed," I theorized. She placed Casey roughly on the bed. I called a pad and paper to me and wrote a list of equipment down. I handed it to Casey. He was dripping now.  
"Dry yourself off and pick this stuff up for me. We'll wait here." He left ten minutes later, wearing new pants. Sabrina sat beside me.  
"I know what they meant to you, James. I've lost people I cared for too," she said, putting a delicate hand on my shoulder. I put my hand up on hers.  
"But so many, and I barely knew Russel. Snowflake was so funny, and he saved my life so many times. Kim and Brian were just so innocent. They came from troubled families and ended up as mercenaries because they couldn't do anything else. They found comfort in each other. That's all they had, each other. And Megan, she helped me through the times when I thought I couldn't go on. I remember once we ended up eating thanksgiving dinner in the basement of the Smithsonian Institution on assignment." I laughed nervously. I realized I could use Mew to go back, but there was nothing I could have done. I would just relive the terror again and again and again. Once was enough. I crossed my legs and meditated. Sabrina did too.  
  
"I'm back!" Casey yelled. I grabbed the bags he had, dumping them out on the table.  
"What do you need all this stuff for?"  
"Psyblade."  
"What?"  
"Ever see Star Wars?"  
"Yeah, but.." I cut him off.  
"It's like a lightsabre. It's a new weapon I can't afford to do without. I could have destroyed the bomb with this. Instead, my friends are dead." A tear came to my eye, one, but it was for all of them, Megan, Russel, Snowflake, Brian, Kim, and all of their pokemon. Snowflake had been a good leader, Brian and Kim good people, and Megan, a good friend. Russel, I had just met, but he was an important and good person too. Now they had all died, because of me. Me and the League. And now Robert was going to have his hands full. I spent the rest of the day assembling the Psyblade. The main focusing gem was the thirteenth birthday present Sabrina had given me. I snapped the assembly shut. It was done. I hooked it at my belt. Now I was ready for the End Game.  
  
"Robert!"  
"Where is he?" Sabrina asked. We were in Robert's living room in his frighteningly large suite. Sugar's stuff was all over, bras, pantyhose, and several other unidentifiable things. Roberts half was clean and well kept.  
"My Goddish, we walked into The Odd Couple!"  
"Make that The Ambigously Gay Couple." The door slammed shut behind us.  
"Robert?" I asked, a challenge in my voice.  
"No, guess again, Kojiro." Sabrina gasped. My nemesis stepped into the light. Darien Kuntz stood six feet tall, and was powerfully built, not only this, but he was a formidable psychic, and there was a psyblade on his belt too.   
"Robert called for some backup. Pity about the Mercs. I enjoyed their deaths. Especially Snowflake... And the others, Russel put up quite a fight. Kim and Brian died slowly, and Megan..." He stopped as I ignited the Psyblade. His was out a half second later. My blade glowed silver in the dark of the empty room, his blood red. He attacked with a sweeping cut to my right flank; I blocked, easily, and somersaulted backwards. He ran at me again. Blade held low and horizontal towards me. I flung a dresser at him psychically. He was caught off guard and fell over. His blade flew from his hand. I caught it, hooked it to my belt. He stood, shook himself and flung a psychic fireball. I reflected it at him with the Psyblade. Then my blade sputtered and died.  
"Shit. OK, scuzzball, eat Elemental Blast." I called out my Lugia. It filled the room, its giant wings sweeping down at Darien.  
"Oh, Goddish, it's Lugia!"  
"And it's mine!" He teleported. He wouldn't be back for a while. If you count three minutes a while. I called Lugia back. And then Dave ran through the door.   
"James, look out!" he yelled. Darien was behind me, and he had his Psyblade off my belt, I spun, he ignited his blade and slashed. At that second Dave flew through, taking the hit. I kicked Darien's hand, flipping his blade into the air. I caught it, slashed at Darien, and caught his hand, burning the top half of one finger off. He shrieked. Sabrina pinned him down, and I teleported him to Ash, and let them deal with him. I fell to one knee, next to Dave. He coughed, his lips stained red with blood.  
"Dave, it'll be all right, I'll call a Chansey in, just a second."  
"No, it's alright, there's no way you can save me. He lifted his hand, revealing a two-inch hole in his chest.  
"Holy Mew, mother of Mewtwo!" David exclaimed, running through the door.  
"I told him not to come back." David said, looking down at the thirteen year old.  
"He hadn't started living, really, and now, he's dying."  
"James. I sacrificed myself so you could save your friends, the Mercs. They need you..." he trailed off, his eyes closed. He was dead. I teleported this to Ash, also, giving telepathic instructions to give him a good burial, and notify his family. Dave Hubbard, Charmeleon Trainer, was gone. I had saved his life once, but couldn't a second time. No time for mourning one death when another was looming ominous above me.   
"The Mercs, where are they?" I thought that Robert would be useful right about then. As if in answer to my thoughts Robert walked in, and saw the congregation.   
"Oh shit," he turned to run. Sabrina lifted him off the ground psychically, and pulled him to us, still running.  
"Where are the Mercs?"  
"I'm not telling!"  
"How does a whole lot of pain sound to you?" I said, making certain parts of his body burn very badly.  
"Ok, Ok, they're in the basement, room 2D."  
"Got that Casey, 2D."  
"Yeah, let's go."  
  
2D was a giant iron door. There was a musty smell to the basement. I tried the door. It wouldn't budge. I melted it down in a second, psychically.  
"I was going to say, maybe you should use the handle," Sabrina said as the 'door' hardened. I stepped over the hot 'door' and into the room beyond. The Mercs sat, playing cards.  
"Deal me in," I said, sitting next to my buddies. The rest of the group joined us, as we went to the rec room down the hall from the old one, and played cards. Little did I know that tomorrow would bring some interesting surprises.  



	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
Council of War  
  
I threw the broken Psyblade on the suitcase in my room. I also threw Robert and Sugar into the room. They were bound with ductape. Wonderful stuff, that ductape. I threw them down none too gently. Psychic power was very fun to use when you didn't like someone. I was starting not to like this couple. Ok, I stopped liking them when they tried to kill me. Or at least Robert. Sugar didn't seem like such a bad guy, except he seemed to be wearing a dress that Megan had told me was missing. I didn't think she'd want it back. I also didn't think Kimberly would want back the shoes and socks that he'd 'borrowed.'  
"Listen, asshole, your actions got a kid killed here. I'm not going to tolerate that. I'd kill you, but I can't hurt a lady that hasn't taken offense in any way, even if she is a man. You're lucky Robert, that you have, her, him, err.. it. I will however, turn you in to the Rockets. You know, they don't like BioGen, much, now, do they?"  
"Mmmph, phmmph, phweef," Robert said, his mouth taped.  
"That's illegal in most states," I replied, reading his mind.  
"Uuck oo!"  
"No, I'm not gay, thanks."  
"Ie ee."  
"Like I said, I'm not gay, ask Sugar to bite you." At this I induced his mind to sleep, and tossed Dave's pokeball belt onto my desk. Somebody had to take care of his pokemon. Sabrina looked it over.  
"Hey, isn't this your Golden Pikachu?" She asked, showing me a pokeball.  
"Nah, mine's right..." I said, realizing it was not on the belt.  
"Why that little prick!"  
"He just died, let's be sympathetic," she said.  
"He stole my fricken Pikachu! There is only one in the whole fricken world."  
"Mmm, well, okay, he did sacrifice his life for yours."  
"Probably felt guilty."  
"Haha, yeah."  
  
We sat in the card room, David, William, Megan, Snowflake, Russel, Brian, Kim, Sabrina and I. It was time to start the downfall of the Rocket organization.   
"I have been surveying the DemonStone production, and only three hundred have been made, the rocket leader, who has not been identified yet, has the first ten prototypes. They know that the BioGen company has people here, and security is getting re-enforced," David, who had been drafted for production, said. My team, the remaining people, I had requested be given to me to command for security in the halls, trying to weed out BioGens.   
"I'm taking Sugar and Robert in, to the Rockets. It'll help ease security if they think they caught the only Biogens," I explained.  
"Good, now, Sabrina mentioned something about the two new pokemon that you have, these Nyura, and Yamikarasu. What about their evil counterparts? I'll need volunteers for a mission to the nursery to recover these pokemon and get them into monsterballs ASAP," Snowflake. Kim and Brian raised their hands.  
"Good. Next. David and Sabrina will be cutting off Rocket escape routes by welding and tampering with the locks. Megan, James, and I will take Sugar and Robert in. Report back here in 2 hours to start the final assault. And, oh, yeah, I need Russel to get readouts of the personnel in the base. We've rigged a laptop up to the port, and you should be able to get in, given your hacking experience," Snowflake finished, showing his true gift of organization. We all dispersed.  
  
"Good work, Colonel Kai Li, and Commanders Joeseph and Megan," the Rocket man congratulated, handing us the promotional medals. I tossed Robert and Sugar to the floor. The rocket ripped the tape off Robert's mouth.  
"Yeeoow! What'd you do that for? You son of a Slowbro! That's gonna leave a mark!"  
"Security, take these two to hall 24, floor 17K."  
"Stop it, where are you taking us, hey, ow, that hurts, shit, man, stop, ow! They're Leaugies! Trust me!" they complained, being dragged down the hall.  
  
"Good work, folks," Snowflake congratulated, back at the meeting room.  
"My turn to organize, Snow," I said. Attacks were my specialty. They had been when I had worked with the Mercs.   
"What we have to do is..." I'd tell all of you readers the plan, but that would kind of spoil it.  
  
We walked down the hallway, our smaller pokemon surrounding us. The Rocket leader, surrounded by advisors sat in the middle of the room. Shadow still seemed to encompass him. That's when I activated the plan.  
"I challenge you to a pokemon battle, for control of this facility."  
"Huh?"  
"I'm Kojiro Kai Li, and I am challenging you. What part don't you understand? Let's go!"  
"Fine."  
"Any last words?"  
  
We stood in the battle arena area, facing each other, over the football field sized arena. I pulled Mew's pokeball, but hesitated. I'd give him a fair fight. I pulled out the pokeball containing Lugia, the elemental bird. He held his pokeball, bouncing it on his hand.  
"Let's go."  
"Right, prepare to lose, Kojiro!"  
"Lugia, let's rock!" Lugia appeared, its giant wings unfolding around it. The rocket was taken by surprise, but gathered himself quickly. I admired him for trying against this power. He released his pokeball, "Go, pokeball," using the anonymous call system, which was used when you called a surprising pokemon. I was surprised. The red energy flash filled the room. A bird, equally as large as Lugia, appeared. I Masterdexed it, hoping it would identify, since I had taken the time one night to update it with mainland pokemon.  
"Hoh-oh, the Phoenix pokemon. The second of the new legendary birds. The other two are Lugia, and the steel bird, Eamudo. This specimen of Hoh-oh has been infected with Demonstone. It is said that all three birds together will cause something incredible to happen, similar to the summoning of Lugia." I was proud of the Masterdex, being able to detect Demonstone modification. No time to think about that. I wondered if I could use psychic power to read the boss's mind to predict his moves. I noticed psychic dampeners, which were becoming an increasingly common weapon, hidden around the area. I couldn't use my psychic power, but I had a powerful pokemon.  
"Hoh-oh, use a firebomb!"  
"Hoooaa!" It screached, streaking toward my Elemental bird. Fire gathered around it, surrounding it, until it became a fireball.  
"Lugia, douse it with a Tsunami Blast!" Lugia's mouth opened, shooting a heavy stream of sea green water at the fireball. It doused the flame, but the Phoenix was unscathed, still coming, spinning suddenly, starting a drill peck.  
"Lugia, Deflect it with your wing!"  
"Luuugiaa!" As the Phoenix closed on it, Lugia, lightening fast, brought a heavy wing up under the chin of the other. Hoh-oh was flung upwards, but managed to catch Lugia in the face with its talons. Lugia reeled back, and Hoh-oh steadied itself. It dove at my bird, but caught a tail swipe in the face. Lugia drove the stunned Hoh-oh down with a hard wing attack.  
"Lugia, damage it enough to catch it!"  
"Giaaa!"  
"Oooh!" The evil Hoh-oh, powered by the Demonstone shot up at Lugia. I watched Lugia bravely try to ward off the superpowered hits. It couldn't win. I realized I had lost. My hands fell to my side... and brushed on a demonstone in my pocket. Another thing I had pilfered. I pulled it out. I winged it at the Hoh-oh.  
"Fight fire with fire!"  
"Noo!" the Rocket yelled, for, just as the stone hit the Phoenix it shook it's head, as if freed from an influence.   
"Lugia don't attack it if it doesn't attack you!" I yelled, hoping the bird would turn on its master. It sat in the air, thinking.  
"Damn it, Hoh-oh, kill it, they're opposing us!"  
"Hoooh-ooh," it cawed, shaking its head. Then it went into a dive, straight at the rocket. He fell back, and the flames in its wings illuminated his face. He was familiar. I couldn't place him. Hoh-oh plucked a pokeball from his belt, and he cowered, fearing the wrath of the giant bird. It flew up, and then dropped the pokeball, directly into my hands. It had brought me its pokeball. Now I had two of the Legendary Mainland Birds. I recalled my pokemon. I strode over to the Rocket leader. I looked closely at his face. Then I recognized his sharp features. Giovanni, but years younger. Oh, Goddish, it was a clone. Then he was on his feet, quickly. He had bluffed weakness and fear near the legendary bird, and now he dropped into a fighting stance, but not before pushing a button cleverly concealed in his wristwatch that activated an alarm. Rockets were filling the hall in seconds, and the Mercs, David, and my fiance called out their pokemon. I droped into a cat stance, not taking my eyes off Giovanni 2. He kicked, a low roundhouse, but I caught it in a 'spastic block.' I punched, catching him in the back. He fell, groaning. He lacked the original Giovanni's resistance to pain. I picked him up, and he punched, hoping to catch me in the stomach. Instead, I caught his hand, and twisted. I heard a pop. He groaned again.   
"How many more Giovanni's are there?"  
"Enough to finish you off!" he spat. I turned him around and put my handcuffs on his arms.  
"For violation of code 826, sections 18, 29, 52, and 60, I am placing you under arrest."  
"By who's authority?"  
"Pokemon Ranger J, i.e. me."  
"What, you were Leaguies all along! I thought you were BioGen!"  
"No, League," I said. He struggled. I cuffed him to a support column and dove into the fray. We fought off Rockets until the League was able to get people into the base. All but two rockets were caught, and my team and I went to find them. We found them, all right, in the Subterranean Pokemon Arena. They saw us and called out their pokemon. The other Nyuras and Yamikarasus. Eleven of each. I called out my 'good' ones. They fought without my commands, just throwing themselves in the fray. Feathers and fur flew everywhere. Because mine were 'good', their power was greater, but they got tired. Eventually they leapt back, returning to their pokeballs, leaving two Nyura, and one Yamikarasu. They fell easily to my Mewtwo. The Rockets were handcuffed, and removed. The last two Generals. Their bags were searched, and were stuffed full of Demonstones. There were several pokeballs. They were labeled 'Prototype's 1-4. We didn't open them, they would be studied at The Ranch. But for now, our jobs were finished. We could go home. At least I could. The Mercs home had been destroyed already by the BioGen security. The League offered them temporary positions helping at The Ranch, seeing as they had experience with illegal pokemon, and had seen many in action. I checked my watch. Sabrina and my wedding was going to happen in Saffron Temple in eight hours, midnight. I had to get ready. I wondered how many more happy endings there'd be in our lives, and also how many more of the Giovanni clones were out there. Only time tells, and tempus fugit, so does Lugia, for that matter.  



	8. Demonstone Epilogue

Epilogue  
  
  
  
I'd never been to a double wedding before, Megan and Russel had decided to get married, or, perhaps you could say, he kind sprung the question on her on the ride back. Sabrina and I weren't there, we had elected to ride Lugia home. It was faster anyway. We got in later anyway, because we happened to run into an interesting bird that turned out to be Eamudo, and we took an extra hour to catch it, which proved tough. Still, we did arrive in time for our wedding, and we were able to dispose of the Rocket suits. We elected to take a break for our honeymoon in Puerta Vista. By 'coincidence' so did Megan and Russel. And the rest of the Mercs followed, Brian and Kim deciding to take a 'second honeymoon' and Snowflake just along for the ride.   
I lay on the hot sand at the Puerta Vista beach. It was nice to feel the sun after so long in the Rocket base. Brian and Kim were off together somewhere else down the beach. Megan and Russel were walking over to where Sabrina and I lay, sunning ourselves, in the sand.  
"Hey, you guys wanna take the water pokemon down to the water and give 'em a break?"  
"Sure, let's go," I said, pulling out my Water pokeballs. We walked down and released them all, which amounted to 2 Gyarados, a Seaking, a Kingudora, Kingler, an Oodairu, and my Lugia, which, beacuse of its type mix, had water traits, and was an excellent swimmer. Megan and Russel climbed onto his Kingudora, and Sabrina and got onto Lugia. We had decided to give the pokemon a workout on the form of a race. At the word 'go' we took off into the waves. Water zipped by, and cool sprays washed over us. The sun shone like a giant shining electrode in the sky. It was perfect, almost. I kissed my fiance... er, wife. Now it was perfect. I hoped it would stay that way, forever.   
Dinner was at a nice little outdoor Sushi restaurant with a island theme. It was part of a larger restaurant. There had been a sign out front that said 'Sushi in Rear.' Upon seeing this Brain had said, "Well, they go trying to put sushi in my rear, I'm gonna sic Mr. Mime on 'em." Everyone laughed. Snowflake, who had not been at the beach, but had gone shopping for souveniers, joined us, but remembered he had left his wallet at a store downtown, and had to run, very fast.   
"Good tuna, delicious," Kim said, ordering another helping. Good thing the League was paying for this. The tuna was almost 100 pokeyen each. Poor Ash, I could see his face when the bill came for 13,286,872 dollars, and 33 cents, in tuna only. It was almost perfect. I got a bowl of Tofu, too, and whipped oout my chopsticks. Good stuff, pity they didn't cook it exactly right, and it tasted like cardboard. I gave it to Pikachu, he'd eat anything. Lugia and the other birds flew high above, skimming the water, flying high, and dropping to skim again. Six legenary birds, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Lugia, Hoh-oh, and Eamudo. It was like something out of really well written fan fiction, or something.   
We said our goodnights, and retired to our room, where we ended up playing pokemon cards all night. Pikachu beat me, and Sabrina, alone, and then when we played a hand together. Damn rat! Now I owed the thing 1200 Pokeyen. Charge it to Ash! I recalled Pikachu. Hey look, we got a really spacious room, with a king size bed, a beautiful view, complimentary fruit, and we also got a shower about a foot and a half square and no shampoo.   
"I love hotels, don't you?" I asked Sabrina.  
"Yeah, me too. And if you flush the toilet the shower turns on. I love this place, remind me not to leave a tip."  
"I't's not that bad," I said. I kissed her. She lay back on the bed. At least david was safely far away at the Ranch. He wsn't going to get in the way, not on my honeymoon. I lay down next to her and kissed her again. My Masterdex beeped. It auto-opened. David's face flashed up on the screen.  
"Hello, love birds... Oh, is this a bad time?"  
"How about, yeah," I said, hanging up on him.  
"Funny how he always happens to arrive or call when we're about to.." I silenced her with a kiss.  
"Don't worry," he won't call again. If he does we may have my Mr. Mime give him some Sushi in Rear. She laughed. I ran my hands down her back, and unbuttoned her jacket.   
"I learned, see. I don't have to ask where the buttons are any more." She laughed again.  
  
I lay, awake, later. Sabrina, also, awake, lay next to me, my arms around her waist. We were chatting telepathically. Then I heard something in the room next to ours. Megan's voice, "That was great. I like kinky, but why quiche l'orange?" Sabrina turned over in my arms, and looked at me, one eyebrow cocked inquisitively.  
"I don't know, and I don't want to," I said.  
"Nor I." I kissed her again. She put her head down and fell asleep. A perfect end to a near perfect day. And, if anyone has seen Snowflake's wallet, please give it back, or I'll have to fireball you.  



	9. Demonstone Prologue

Pokemon: Demonstone  
Prologue & Disclaimer  
  
  
In the year 2019 Team Rocket has concocted a new plan to destroy all that   
is good and true. They call it Demonstone. It will create an undefeatable army of   
Evil Pokemon. Now Ranger J, his friend and co-worker, David, and J's fiance Sabrina   
go undercover to stop the Rockets. J & J make an appearance. Introducing new  
characters: Russel, Brian, Kim, Snowflake, Megan, Casey, and it returns a few old acquaintances.  
  
DEMONSTONE  
  
  
  
Dedications  
  
I'd like to dedicate this to the folks who make this happen.   
  
Joeseph, the real-life Snowflake, for his help co-creating the Pokemon Mercenaries. Read his story. Search for 'pokemon mercenaries' at fanfiction.net.  
  
Megan, who really exists, for her great friendship and input. You're always there, thanks Meg!  
  
Kim and Brian, for being the perfect couple they are. They have been good friends, and made good models for the characters  
  
Russel, for his humor, and his being, Russel, I guess, which really lightened up TIP.  
  
David Whitley, who got me into this, and has really created a great view of Pokemon.  
  
Casey, for being The Toilet of Sadness, and flushing the Hamster of Doom.  
  
Also, all of you readers who read this stuff, and take you time to review it. Thanks!  
  
  
  
  
I do NOT own Pokemon in any way. James Kelley, however, and all of the not-in-the-show characters, are mine, Dagvid Whitley's, or Snowflake's. Don't steal, make your own story and characters. If you are interested in using one of the characters, E-Mail me, and I'll work with you.  
  
  
Kojiro Kai Li (a.k.a. James Kelley, Ranger J)  
P.S. My real name is James, not Kojiro. 


End file.
